


Coda: An Explanation

by litra



Series: If wishes were races we would all run [7]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Explanations, Friendship, Gen, Talking, talking things out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 07:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16949421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litra
Summary: Barry confirms that Caitlin is okay. Caitlin and Barry talk out some details.





	Coda: An Explanation

 Caitlin had asked Allan to drop her off at Jitters. She didn't want that man anywhere near her home or her lab.  She didn't trust him. She didn't understand what had happened or why they had insisted on telling her a wild story about genies and wishes. She didn't believe in magic. Then again she hadn't believed a man could run faster than the speed of sound before Barry had woken up.

She was a scientist above all. They had presented a hypothesis. It was a crazy hypothesis and there were plenty of other explanations, but she couldn't just write this one off because it was excluded from her own world view.

She took a deep breath full of the smells of coffee and caramel.

She focused on not letting her hands shake. It was strange. They hadn't hurt her, hadn't even threatened her beyond keeping her from leaving. They hadn't tied her up or put a gun to her head, but somehow none of that stopped her adrenalin crash.

Barry came through the door, looked around and appeared next to her table faster then he, strictly speaking, should have been able to.

"You're okay?" It was probably meant to be a question, but it came out more like an order. Caitlin took a breath. She needed to talk to him and the sooner she got it over with the better. 

"Get me a refill," she said, holding out her cup. He looked down at the cup, nodded and went to stand in line.

Okay so maybe a few minutes to organize her thoughts wouldn't hurt.

When Barry returned he slid into the seat opposite her. He had his own cup, and set hers down gently.

"They... told me things."

Barry bit his lip then reached out and covered her hand with his. "Whatever it is, we'll work it out."

She shook her head, more to clear it then as a denial, "It's not-- They didn't threaten me or my family or anything. I just--" She took a breath, "There was this guy. He looked like you. Spoke like you. I'd have never known the difference if he hadn't taken me..."

Barry was nodding slowly, "So a shapeshifter meta? That's tricky. Maybe Cisco can make something or-- He didn't have my powers did he? But that wouldn't stop him from impersonating someone else. Maybe passwords?"

Caitlin shook her head, "That's just it. If he was a meta why hide it?"

"Wait," Barry held up a hand, "He's not a meta?"

Caitlin took a bracing drink of her coffee and came out with it, "He said he was a genie and he knew what you looked like because you were one of his previous masters." She had a whole speech planned, full of details Allan had sighted and how she was fairly certain it wasn't a time remnant because they had all made it very clear that Allen and Mick were together. Except then Barry's face went white and he slowly raised a hand covering his mouth.

"Barry?"

"I-- Okay this is going to sound crazy, and I was never really sure if it was true or not-- I mean, it was the night of the excelerator explosion so I thought it might have been some kind of coma dream, but..."

"Barry Allen are you telling me you actually found a genie? What did you wish for? Did you wish for super powers? Oh my god, is that why the accelerator exploded?" Caitlin hissed.

"No!" The single word came out far too loud and Barry ducked as people looked their way.

Caitlin picked up her cup. "You are telling me everything!" She said in a loud whisper. Turning, Caitlin marched up to the counter and asked for a to go cup. Barry silently followed along in her wake.

Barry told her about the case with the ring. He'd told her about the genie, though his description of them was very different from what she'd experienced. He told her about making his three wishes, and then waking up months later with only one of them, sort of fulfilled. Then he went on and told her about talking to Snart in the woods. He told her about Snart's jokes, and how he made it all seem fun again, or maybe for the first time. He told Caitlin about the deal.

Through it all Caitlin watched Barry with varying levels of disbelief and exasperation. 

"You know they could do anything with wishes like that, right?" She finally had to ask.

Barry shrugged, "So could anyone. I got the ring after it killed someone. I got powers, and I choose to help people with them, but someone else could use my powers to do terrible things. If they wish to kill people, I can't stop them, any more than I can stop someone from buying a gun.  I'm not a god, and frankly I don't really want to be one."

He shrugged. "For now, I'm okay playing superheros with them. We'll see how it goes."

Caitlin could only agree with that.


End file.
